“I think and think for months. For years. Ninety-nine times the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.”
Who said that? Albert Einstein. No one likes failure and no one is failure-proof. For the course CEP 812 in my master's program, I have collaborated with my think tank to study and explore the wicked problem of failure as a learning mode. Our group used design thinking and questioning processes to tackle and break down the complexity of this problem. Despite challenges of collaborating virtually across three different time zones, my think tank was able to use conference calling several times, the collaborative powers of Google Docs and Slides and emails to discuss and ideate solutions for this complex problem.
The best learning, innovation, and discovery comes from being willing to struggle, make mistakes, then make adjustments and improve based on instances of failure. Unfortunately, in education, particularly in this high-stakes accountability era, failure has become the term attached to our persistent challenges. We argue over how to “prevent” more failure. Increasingly, failure has come to mean something terrible. From here, our think tank proposes necessary education reform that implements three solution approaches to failure in the classroom. We first recommend integrating growth mindset and grit into teaching practices. Success comes to those who hang in, who bounce back after being knocked down again and again, and who try harder and longer. These non-cognitive skills and abilities must be incorporated into learning environments, taught and practiced and should receive just as much attention as other cognitive abilities in the classroom (Haedden and McKay, 2015, p. 7).
Secondly, we suggest the implementation of project-based learning enhanced with gamification that inherently require students to work through their learning and navigate through bumps via trial and error. Lastly, we recommend the use of adaptive learning technologies which could deliberately promote students’ engagement, enhance motivation and remove a student’s fear of failure (Rohrkemper and Korno, 1988, p. 301).
To view our final project with solutions, please watch the video below that was created through various technology tools such as WeVideo for video editing, Moovly for creating animated videos, and Audacity for voice recording.
We need to teach and embrace the term good failure. No one wants to fail, but a good failure can help us learn and become stronger. When failure is reimagined as a constructive, and essential part of learning, failure is a master teacher.
Failure is an opportunity to learn. Let’s start in the classroom.
References
Headden, S. & McKay, S. (2015). Motivation Matters: How New Research Can Help Teachers Boost Student Engagement. Retrieved from https://www.carnegiefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Motivation_Matters_July_2015.pdf
Rohrkemper, M., & Corno, L. (1988) Success and Failure on Classroom Tasks: Adaptive Learning and Classroom Teaching, Vol. 88, No. 3,(Special Issue: Schoolwork and Academic Tasks, Jan., 1988), pp. 296-312. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1001958
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